If your breast hurts, check it out now

A list of generalized symptoms is not the best way to diagnose breast cancer. A comment from Nancy on my blog about Sheryl Crow and early diagnosis reminded me of a symptom I should have paid attention to. Nancy wrote that she had pain in her breast that her doctor did not relate to breast cancer. Prior to diagnosis, I too experienced pain in my breast. I was not alarmed or even concerned as I had been told and also read that breast cancer was a “painless lump.” It was easy for me to ascribe the pain in my breast to PMS or early peri-menopausal symptoms. It didn’t even occur to me to mention it to my doctor who I was seeing for a problem with my shoulder at the time.

I began experiencing pain and tingling in my breast in April and didn’t feel a lump until July. Now I have to wonder if I had mentioned this symptom to my doctor if the cancer would have been diagnosed before it could travel to my lymph nodes.

Any change in your breast, either in appearance, feeling or skin texture should be cause for concern – not cause for panic certainly but neither should it be overlooked. Nancy was right to insist that her doctor send her for a mammogram. The lump in my breast was only painless once it was large enough to be stage III. This may be the first time you read this, but pain can definitely be a symptom of breast cancer, take it from someone with first-hand knowledge.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathy-Ellen Kups, RN

Kathy-Ellen is a Registered Nurse living in Michigan. In 2003, Kathy-Ellen was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. She was cancer-free from April 2004 until December of 2013 when it was discovered that...read more